Again, I find myself taking part in a new challenge from the blog FILM & FOOD for Nov and Dec. Oh this time it´s fun. We had to send cookies to a blogger, assigned by them. All of us playing Secret Santa!.

I simply wanted to tear it open (what a pain), I had to open it slowly to make the step by step pictures for the post. I almost forgot it!!!. I couldn´t wait to see what it was inside and who was the sender.

Sigo sin ver nada, madre mía pues si que lo ha envuelto bien.

Oh God!, I can´t see anything yet. I must say this blogger really wrapped it well.

¡Por fín!. Unas letras.

Finally I found the letter!!.

Unas palabras muy cariñosas junto con su felicitación navideña.

Some charming words as an introduction, and her greetings for Xtmas and the new year to come.

Okay, I was never going to set the cookies in a background like this, but the other day as I was browsing through her blog, I found out she has a mug with the same girl on a swing, like the one I´m showing you below. I had to take a picture of it and post it in here to tell her that we have something in common in our kitchens!!!.

There you go now with the finished touch!. I have to tell you something though. When I started to think about what i was going to include in this picture, there weren´t 12 cookies anymore. All the pictures were taken with just 10 cookies. Okay, don´t blame Silvia, she didn´t forget to put all the biscuits, the thing is that we ate two before even thinking about the post!!!.

We have to grind the coriander seeds and the anise grains, use a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. Seize them and transfer to a bowl together with the butter (room temperature), the cocoa, the honey, the sugar and the rest of the spices. Put them over a low heat until ot forms a dough. Let it cool for a while. In another bowl, put the flour with the baking powder, the salt and the eggs. Combine everything well. Little by little, add the dough we previously formed and beat all the ingredients until well mixed. Cover them and leave them resting for 24 hours inside the fridge. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Then use your hands to bring it all together to form a dough. Take small portions and roll them into rounds. Place them on a large baking tray lining the base with baking parchment and press down gently to flatten them. Bake them for 12 minutes. Leave them to cool completely over a wire rack. We can brush them with the some glacé or simply sprinkled with icing sugar.

Married to a wonderful man, who I love to travel with, and parents of two great children I´m talkative and very impulsive. I can talk for hours on the phone with my mom, daughter, sister and good friends...